Bus looted on Yamuna expressway, three injured

Armed culprits got inside the Delhi-Lucknow bus near Tappal in Aligarh when one of its tyres got punctured

Three persons were injured when armed men looted cash and valuables worth five lakh rupees from a luxury bus on Yamuna expressway near Aligarh on Sunday. The culprits got inside the Delhi-Lucknow bus near Tappal in Aligarh when one of its tyres got punctured.

Cash and valuables

The armed bandits barged inside the bus when the tyre was being changed.

The culprits looted cash and other valuables and started firing when some people inside the bus protested. Local police officials told The Hindu that it looked like the armed men were behind puncturing of the tyre because they barged in immediately after that.

“Passengers said the incident took place when the tyre was being changed. The armed men got into the bus and robbed them. They also fired to silence those who resisted,” senior superintendent of police Aligarh Rajesh Pandey said. Those who sustained injuries have been identified as Raj Singh, Vivek Yadav and Puran who have been admitted in a hospital in Mathura.

The injured are out of danger, the police said.

Unsubstantiated reports

After the matter came to light the inspector General of police (Agra Zone) Sujit Pandey, DIG R.P. Singh and SSP Pandey reached the spot. There were initial reports that the culprits also abducted two women from the bus and took them to a nearby farm house belonging to a retired police officer from Himachal Pradesh, from where they gang raped the two women. But the police denied the reports.

According to SSP Pandey, before looting the bus the culprits had barged inside an under-construction farm house of a retired police officer where they beat up the staff and construction workers including two women who were present there.

“A section of the Hindi media reported that two women were gang raped but it is completely false. The two women construction workers denied having been sexually assaulted. For precaution we have sent them to Aligarh women's hospital for medical examination. But prima facie there was nothing to suggest that gang rape took place,” Mr. Pandey said.